Chapter 1
1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were
in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
2to whom the word of Yahweh came in
the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of
his reign.
3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king
of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah,
king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
5Before I formed you in
the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified
you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.
6Then said I, Ah,
Lord Yahweh! behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.
7But
Yahweh said to me, Don’t say, I am a child; for to whoever I shall send you,
you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.
8Don’t
be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh.
9Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to
me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth:
10behold, I have this day
set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down
and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
11Moreover the
word of Yahweh came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what see you? I said, I see a
rod of an almond tree.
12Then said Yahweh to me, You have well seen: for
I watch over my word to perform it.
13The word of Yahweh came to me the
second time, saying, What see you? I said, I see a boiling caldron; and the
face of it is from the north.
14Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north
evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.
15For, behold,
I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and
they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of
the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it round about, and
against all the cities of Judah.
16I will utter my judgments against them
touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned
incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17You
therefore gird up your waist, and arise, and speak to them all that I command
you: don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.
18For,
behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and
brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the
princes of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the land.
19They shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you:
for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you.
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